Roundtable commissioner

[KoreaScouter]

I've just "volunteered" to take over as our District's Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner (you know how your dog will stare at you until it gets what it wants? I realized at the last Roundtable they were all staring at me when the incumbent announced he was relocating).

 

Anybody got any tips or advice on how I can get spun up quickly, available references, do's/don'ts? Thanks in advance...

 

KS

[scoutldr]

Immediately recruit a large staff!!!!

 

My understanding is that there is a "Roundtable Program" guide with month by month ideas based on the themes...

[Bob White]

There really is too much to cover here KS. Boy Scout roundable eng=hancement is a week long conference at Philmont Training Center. Until you go there I recommend you get the basic Roundtable Commissioner Training and the Roundtable Staff Development Trainng Syllabi.

 

A good staff is essential whether large or small. More important than group size is quality and characteristics. Choose your staff carefully.

 

Keep in mind the goal of RT is not as a District Activities Committee planning night or as an announcemet night. Your job is to influence and increase the opportunity for every eleigble youth to experience a quality scouting program by affecting the unit leaders "Will to Do" and "Skill to DO".

 

It's a terrific job. A good Roundtable can have a huge impact on the quality of Scouting in your community. Along with Cubmaster and Scoutmaster it's one of my personal favorites.

 

Good Luck,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

It is a great job.

 

Get a staff.

 

Make it the second best show in town!

 

FB

[KoreaScouter]

Thanks for the inputs, but I'm a little confused. As the Boy Scout RT Commissioner, I thought I was part of the staff, along with the Cub Scout and Venturing RT Commissioners. Am I supposed to assemble my own staff too? I planned to ask other Scouters to make presentations at RTs for their particular area of expertise; I hadn't considered these people as "staff".

 

Appreciate the tips on the references; I'll start shaking the trees at Council...

 

KS

[Eamonn]

Here I go being a wet blanket.

While I admire and respect you KS. From your postings in this forum you certainly seem as a Scoutmaster who has got it.

I think that Unit Leaders / Scoutmasters have enough on their plate without taking on extra responsibilities.

Her That Must Be Obeyed bought my son which reads "What part of NO don't you understand."

It of course goes without saying that I wish you all the best of British Luck and still know that you are not only up to the task, but way ahead of it.

Eamonn.

[Bob White]

As the Scout Roundtable Commissioner you work for the District Commissioner and yo are responsible for the success of delivering the mission of Roundtable to the Boy Scout Leaders in the District. While it is a good idea to use the resources around you for skill demonstrations there are other jobs that need to happen on an ongoing basis to make the Rundtable a success. You will find that the most successful RT programs have a regular staff that assist with such things as:

Program planning

Physical Arrangements

Check-in and attendance

Hospitality

Recognitions

Promotion

Resources

Ceremonies

 

and some for specific and ongoing program features such as;

Cook's corner

Scoutmaster minutes

Game master

Boys' Life

Merit Badge Midway

 

The idea is to put on a Show & Do "for" Scout leaders, not necessarily "by" Scout leaders.

 

[KoreaScouter]

Bob;

 

Thanks for the "drill-down" -- I've attended Roundtables at which all the things you describe were taking place. That's exactly the kind of information and background I hope to get from our service center...BTW, my DE has already put some things together and will be dropping it off at the house this afternoon.

 

Eammon;

 

I hear you loud and clear on being an SM and holding a District job simultaneously. Believe me, I wasn't lobbying for this. Our District broke out from a larger one just a few years ago, and it seems that the foundation of dedicated volunteers at the District level just aren't materializing. I don't really understand it, since we didn't start from scratch, but were peeled off with a number of standing units already chartered. Our turnout for Roundtables has been very poor, even after our District changed the location to make them more centrally located. I've been leaning on my CC and ASMs to go to Roundtables, but it's been spotty. Part of this may be an "island" thing, I don't know. But, the bottom line is that if I hadn't done it, the job would have gone vacant. I can't urge my assistants to go if there's nothing for them to go to. I remember how well done the Roundtables were in Colonial Virginia when I was there, how much I got from them, and how much I looked forward to them, and want the same thing for our District here.

 

Call me corny and old-fashioned, but one of the things I took away from Wood Badge and my OA Ordeal, including my witnessing the effort the staffs put into making them happen, is that you have to step up when something needs to be done. On the hanger in the closet, those beads weigh a few grams. Around your neck, they can be heavier than a Buick. It's funny, you swear you don't have time for something, until you have to do it, then you find the time.

 

I'm wide open to any other tips or advice, including online resources...

 

thanks,

 

KS

[Eamonn]

KS,

We would need to start another thread to cover some of the points that you bring up.

Please believe me when I say that I know where you are coming from and have at times "Fell victim" to "No one else will - So I will" Sad to say that: "So I will" becomes "..I will have to."

Anyway you might find a lot of neat stuff in the UK Site:

htt://www.scoutbase.org.uk

Eamonn.

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

KS,

 

I want to speak from my own personal experience which contributed to a complete burn and fizzle. It was not pretty but moreover it was unnecessary and what I really should have done wasn't.

 

I know you will not accept my advice and I am wasting good electrons but let me give it from the worst possible place, from a distance.

 

Call your D.E. or who ever recruited you and tell them that you meant that you were going to help recruit a full-time Roundtable Commissioner AND a staff! Tell them that you believe strongly in good program and that you want to rebuild the Roundtable because it is an important part of training other leaders. Let them know that doing your job as SM is vital to the Scouts and parents you serve and it would be in the best interest of all for you to take on the job of recruitment. You do not get any brownie points for recruiting and it is behind the lines where nobody will see your acts of courage. If you achieve you goal, somebody else will take credit for your work and pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

 

Now that I have built it up, let me tell you what you get out of it. You will have a better Scout unit because your efforts will be directed towards that goal. You will see a Roundtable that will function properly and will assist you in your efforts as SM. You will have made several friends by actively speaking to them about a goal that you believe they would be best at doing. People will quietly know that it was you that did it and will respect your work all the more. Your wife will understand what you are trying to do for your family as well as the community and will most likely give you a hand at a time limited project that will no doubt give her some of your valuable time. Your children will benefit because you will have an extra evening or two to spend flying kites. The D. E. will understand your true value and will now have someone that has wisdom concerning their time.

 

I know that you would do a great job at Roundtable because you are probably a great leader. One job per leader is more than enough. When you can do that, then those Woodbadge Beads will feel a little lighter.

 

I probably should have spent this time doing something constructive, sorry.

 

FB

 

[Bob White]

And if that fails, direct your DE to the BSA's national website at http://www.scouting.org/commissioner/home.html

and show him this statement from the BSA at the bottom of the page.

 

"Commissioners must not be registered simultaneously as unit leaders".

[buffalo2]

This is one of the better discussions that we've had lately.

While I've really not got much to contribute at the moment, there's a lot of thought going on in the background...

Thanks guys - and Good Luck KS; I'm sure that you'll do well regardless(This message has been edited by buffalo2)

[KoreaScouter]

Thanks again for everybody's input -- just for clarification, though...

 

- I'm not taking over as District Roundtable Commissioner; we already have one of those. I'm only taking the Boy Scout portion, and other volunteers have the Cub Scout and Venturing portions. I think that makes me part of the Roundtable staff, right?

 

- I knew about the taboo on unit leaders being commissioners, but I thought that meant that you shouldn't be a commissioner for your own unit, not that a unit leader couldn't be dual-registered on the District staff too.

 

- I have other secondary motives for doing this, including another way to "raise the flame" under the posteriors of some of my fellow volunteers (across the District). A bit Machiavellian, I admit, but I'm hoping that by my personal involvement in the District, they will model my behavior, be more inclined to attend the Roundtables, etc. It worked for me once before, and I'm hoping history can repeat itself.

 

Bob; thanks for the link to the Commish page; I've already added it to my favorites. I'll tell you, navigating that BSA National web site is like walking through the Pentagon. I never knew it was there, and it was probably right under my nose the whole time.

 

FuzzyBear; I appreciate where you're coming from, and I do decline or "redirect" a lot of requests that come my way. I like to think I have my priorities straight, and with a Girl Scout daughter, a long-suffering wife who rightfully demands attention, companionship, and affection (although in the case of the latter, not as often as I'd prefer, but that's off-topic), and Maxwell the Wonder Dog constantly underfoot, I have to be careful what additional things I take on. We're probably in violent agreement, in principle anyway.

 

You know, I could avoid doing many of the things I do, using the book as justification, pointing out that it's somebody else's responsibility. I'd be technically correct, the scoundrels would be appropriately chastised, and my postage-stamp size corner of the world would again be precisely and correctly ordered, like the trees, streets, and buildings in a model railroad diorama. But, that doesn't necessarily get anything accomplished. I'm not trying to be a martyr here, I'm merely asserting that I'm in a better position to foster District support as a dual-registered volunteer than as a unit-level only guy.

 

It may work, it may not, I don't know. But, I'll never know if I don't give it a try. Plus, I'm already learning something about how to plan and conduct Boy Scout Roundtables I didn't know before, when I was just sitting in the room, converting O2 into CO2. That ain't a bad thing.

 

KS

[Bob White]

No, you are part of the Commissioning Staff, but you are the program leader for the Boy Scout Roundtables.

 

There is no position code or POR patch for a District Roundtable Commissioner.

 

There is Cub Roundtable Commissioner, Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner, Venturing Roundatable Commissioner, and Varsity Huddle Commissioner.

 

Each of those commissioners then have codes and positions for their Roundtable Staffs.

 

Perhaps your District Commissioner has assigned an ADC (assistant district commissioner) to oversee the Roundtable commissioners.

 

So whether you know it or not you are now in charge of the Boy Scout Roundtable program for the district, and it Boy Scout roundtable staff.

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[matuawarrior]

KS,

 

Congrats for stepping up. You'll have fun. AS posted earlier, there is a Roundtable Program that Aloha gives out to RT Commissioners. Check with Rob N. at the Council HQ. I understand he is the new Asst. SE.

 

The greatest challenge is the preparation but I've learned to delegate different areas of the program. Find out what your units are planning for the year and go through the program or see if there was an actual plan before you stepped up and just follow that until the next District Planning Conference.

 

Yes, you need your own staff as well for the Boy Scout side of the house, Hint: delegate to your unit leaders. Get them involved.

 

I had Fun,

Matua